Malaysian local governments’ role towards sustainable development focusing on knowledge transfer practices framework

Local Governments are facing very demanding and dynamic situation in development agenda when dealing with sustainable development. When the development’s activities do not start with the sustainability elements at Local Governments, the negative impacts are imminent and it will cause hazards to society, economy and environment. Hence, the knowledge of sustainability needs to be inculcated in Local Governments’ practices. It needs to be shown in the stage of planning approval since this is where the development begins. In relation to that, the research objectives are to identify the constraints in knowledge transfer practices of sustainable development in the planning approval at Local Governments, to study the perceptions of stakeholders involved in the planning approval stage at Local Governments regarding knowledge transfer practices towards sustainable development, to study the knowledge transfer practices towards sustainable development at Local Governments and to develop the framework of knowledge transfer practices towards sustainable development into the planning approval stage at Local Governments. Therefore, respondents involved are 55 selected Malaysian Local Governments for questionnaire, 17 selected Malaysian Local Governments for interview and 9 selected stakeholders. The results of this study show that there is lacking in clear direction which bring to the unsupportive policy and management, the perceptions of stakeholders suggest that Local Governments need to show their capabilities in handling sustainable development at the planning approval stage and overall result demonstrates that staffs have low percentage of below 30% in acquiring and participating in activities related to sustainable development. In relation to that, it contributes to the lack of knowledge on sustainable development. Hence knowledge transfer practices towards sustainable development at the planning approval stage are needed as suggested in the analysis of interviews. Therefore, this research has developed a framework of the knowledge transfer practices towards sustainable development at planning approval stage in Malaysian Local Governments, which is to improve the process of the planning approval for sustainability delivery

Impak pengorekan pasir sungai terhadap alam sekitar di Sungai Skudai, Johor

Pada amnya alam persekitaran tidak dapat dipisahkan daripada aspek pembangunan negara. Dalam mengejar pertumbuhan ekonomi dan pembangunan pesat, pelbagai perubahan alam sekitar telah dapat dilihat. Namun penekanan pembangunan yang berfokus kepada peningkatan ekonomi semata-mata telah mula menunjukkan kesan negatifnya. Walaupun pendekatan saintifik telah menunjukkan yang manusia boleh menguasai alam sekitar, tetapi ada ketikanya penyebab kepada pencemaran alam. Di antara pencemaran alam sekitar yang berlaku ialah pencemaran sungai

Penyelenggaraan fasiliti stadium

Penyelenggaraan adalah kerja yang dilakukan untuk memelihara, menjaga, mengendali, memperbaiki dan mengawalselia struktur bangunan, kemudahan, kelengkapan, perkhidmatan bangunan dan persekitaran bagi memastikan bangunan sentiasa berada pada tahap piawaian yang telah ditetapkan. Selain itu, penyelenggaraan juga dapat mempertahankan utiliti dan nilai fasiliti kemudahan serta berada dalam keadaan selamat digunakan

Kerja baikpulih bangunan komersial yang terbengkalai di kawasan Melaka Tengah

Industri pembinaan merupakan satu sektor yang menjadi pemangkin kepada pertumbuhan sosio-ekonomi dan sebahagian besar sumbernya digunakan kearah pembangunan yang pesat dalam pentadbiran negara. Projek-projek mega seperti Kuala lumpur internationa airport (KLIA), Pusat pentadbiran kerajaan di putrjaya dan banyak lagi pembinaan bangunan komersial yang menjadi tanda aras perkembangan yang memberangsangkan. Selain dari itu, pembangunan bagi sesuatu kawasan menyebabkan pertambahan penduduk. Ini menunjuk industri binaan merupakan salah satu sektor yang menyumbang dalam pembangunan dari aspek sosial dan ekonomi kepada sesuatu kawasan. Walaupun banyak teknologi dalam industri pembinaan telah digunakan pada masa kini, ia masih lagi tidak dapat mengawal kehadiran bangunan yang terbiar di Malaysia dan kesan kewujudan bangunan terbiar itu mengakibatkan kerugian kepada pelbagai pihak dan mengancam keselamatan penduduk sekitarnya

The impact of material management on construction project delivery in Somalia

Materials management practice is a procedure that coordinates planning, requirement assessment, sourcing, purchasing, transporting, materials storing and controlling, wastage minimisation and cost reduction for profit optimization. Material management have been a great problem to most firms in the construction industry due to a tendency of mismanagement of materials. The scale of activities concerning materials management increases as the size of the contract increase. This study centered on the impact of materials management practices in the Somalia construction project delivery. The objectives of this study are to investigate the current practice of material management at construction projects, to identify the causes of ineffective material management, and to examine the impact of material management process to the construction project delivery. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from Grade A contractor company in Mogadishu, Somalia and the respondent consist of project managers, civil engineers, architect and site managers. The findings revealed that current practice of material management in construction projects in Somalia include identifying the needed materials, consideration of site layout and location, material available close to site, material conform with specifications and material supplied on-time. The study also found that most common root causes of ineffective material management were undefined scope, incomplete drawings, inadequate information on material supply, poor scheduling of material on site, no determination of what and when the material needed and lack in determining the quantity of material needed. Furthermore, the respondents of this research indicated that the occurrence of cost overrun and delay in progress of the work are the major impacts of ineffective material management that bring negative impact to the construction project delivery in Somalia. The research concludes that effective material management practice can improve the overall handling of material and smooth project delivery on site. A proper planning of material management practice right from the start of the project execution should be practiced on site in order to ensure timely execution of the project and standard of the work delivery within reasonable cost, time and quality

Kajian masalah kewangan yang dihadapi kontraktor bumiputera semasa fasa pembinaan

The Malaysian government has introduced several policies in increasing the economic dominance of the Bumiputera in Malaysia. Among the government's actions in this matter is to give specific government contracts to Bumiputera contractors only. But unfortunately, some Bumiputera contractors fail to last long in the construction industry in Malaysia due to financial problems. Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify the financial problems often faced by Bumiputera contractors during the construction phase, examine the factors of strong capital absence when starting construction work among Bumiputera contractors and suggest appropriate methods in improving the financial performance of Bumiputera contractors in the construction industry. The methodology of this study is qualitative method with the use of interview as instrument for data collection. Meanwhile, the scope of this study involves three Bumiputera contractor firms based in the state of Johor. The data collected were analyzed using content analysis. The results of the study found that the main financial problem faced by Bumiputera Contractors is the low liquidity of the firm. In addition, the study also found that unqualified contractors are a major factor in the lack of strong capital when starting construction work. Therefore, several suggestions have been identified in improving the financial performance of Bumiputera Contractors including to segregate company accounts and personal accounts. It is hoped that this study can benefit Bumiputera Contractors as well as increase the achievement of Bumiputera in the construction industry in Malaysia

The implementation of persuasive technology principles in mobile application development: a qualitative study

Preceding studies of persuasive technology have mentioned several benefits on the implementation of persuasive design features of the Persuasive System Design (PSD) model such as creating users' engagement and acceptance and continuous usage. However, available literatures have not sufficiently address the implementation of these design principles particularly in the context of mobile application development as compared to system development. Furthermore, there are low numbers of discussion that have relate the implementation of these design principles towards the achievement of the persuasive system developed. Hence, this study was conducted to qualitatively explore the way persuasive design principles were implemented as well as the mobile application development process followed in three different levels of mobile applications' attainments. Within this study, seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with the involvement of fifteen (15) Android mobile applications in the area of utilities category. These mobile applications were then categorized into successful, partially successful and less successful categories based on their numbers of mobile application downloaded for three consecutive years which is from 2013 until 2015. The results from the content analysis conducted have shown that the mobile applications of the successful category have implemented a lot more persuasive design principles as compared to the other two categories. Moreover, it is also found that all of the mobile applications of the category had follow a more detailed process of mobile application development with the emphasizing on product introduction to the users. A model of the implementation of persuasive design principles in mobile application development was then proposed based on the findings gained from this research. The results from this study have provided contribution to the body of knowledge by leveraging the domain of persuasive technology studies particularly in mobile application development

Synthesis of Construction Quality Assessment Model in Construction Industry

The achievement of quality is an important component in every handover of a residential project. Good quality plays an important role in creating a good identity for the developer as well as fulfill customer’s satisfaction level. Thus, Malaysian developers have started to implement quality assessment in their residential projects. Quality assessment is carried out to evaluate quality of project. However, even though quality assessment is implemented in most of construction projects, it is still a struggle to reach customer’s satisfaction level due to the number of defects in their residential properties. Therefore, this research carries the objective of investigate lacking of construction quality assessment and developing a framework on quality assessment to reduce defects in residential projects. This paper review requirements on construction quality assessment models which has been proposed by different researchers. The result of this study used to develop a framework on construction quality assessment to fulfil the important indicators which should be included in a quality assessment. The significance of this study may help contractors to develop projects with less defects and quality residential project

Hawker’s Community Awareness and Knowledge towards Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

Solid waste management practice is one of the crucial components in developing a sustainable city. The practice of sustainable solid waste management among the community is reflecting one of the sustainable community features. However, developing a sustainable community is not an easy task where it requires commitment from multiple stakeholders. Hawker's community is essential in urban areas where it plays a vital role in economic development and environmental sustainability. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine hawker's community's knowledge, awareness, and practices in solid waste management. This study used a questionnaire as the primary research instrument. A total of 105 respondents participated in this study, where they are hawkers in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia. Descriptive analysis was applied to examine the hawker's community's awareness, knowledge, and practice on sustainable solid waste management, which focuses on recycling and composting. This study found out that the awareness of respondents on sustainable solid waste management is high. However, the knowledge of respondents is at a moderate level. This study also reveals that the respondent is reluctant to practice sustainable solid waste management because of time constraints and inconvenient facilities. This finding is significant to local authority and government agencies to develop sustainable community framework in an urban area

Competency Requirement for Effective BIM Modeller in Design Phase of a Construction Project

Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology has been well received by the Malaysian construction industry, yet the adoption is still in stage 2. Malaysian construction industry is still in implementation of CAD to BIM in design phase. The competency of BIM Modeller in fully utilising BIM is still lacking and this has curtailed the usage of BIM during design phase. According to CIDB, in order to adopt BIM, organisations need to invest in BIM tools such as BIM modeller course. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to identify the benefits of competency among BIM modeller during design phase, to determine the competency needed by BIM modeller and to propose recommendation to improve BIM modeller competency during design phase. The primary data were collected from interview with 4 BIM Modeller to achieve the first and third objectives and subsequently, the second objective was achieved based on 40 received questionnaires from BIM modeller. The data analysis method used are content analysis and descriptive analysis. The results show that all respondents agreed that growing awareness, improve design, shorten timescale and reduce cost are benefits of competency among BIM modeller. The competency that important are including ability to manipulate, navigate and review a 3D model and knowledge of BIM authoring tools. Meanwhile, a few recommendations including BIM training among worker, tactical development, enhance effective collaboration, capabilities of maintaining exchanged data and mobilizing client on importance of BIM are all agreed. The competency of BIM modeller are significant in a project to improve the project design quality. It is hoped that the findings of this study could be useful as a reference to give awareness of construction industry stakeholders towards the importance of BIM modeller competency. It also can be a guide for government and other parties to improve BIM competency level for BIM modeller